2016 Stanley Cup Final

It’s no secret that I love hockey. It should also be known that I am a lifelong fan and, since 2009, a season ticket subscriber of the New York Rangers. Although this season was a disappointment and a huge step backward for the Rangers, that doesn’t mean that I’m just going to stop watching the rest of the playoffs, especially when I’m staring down MONTHS of nothing but baseball and soccer. Woof.

Whenever the Rangers are eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs, which for a team with indisputably the worst history of any Original Six franchise happens rather often, I always like to see teams that have never won before win it all. In a league that likes to tout its parity, why not spread the wealth around when it comes to the actual capturing of sports’ most recognizable trophy? That’s why I’ll be cheering for the dynamic, exciting San Jose Sharks to win the Stanley Cup this year.

Let’s do this, Sharks.

When you combine the fact that the Sharks are playing fantastic, relentless hockey and feature likable players who have earned the legacy of champions (think Joe Thornton, Joe Pavelski, Patrick Marleau, and others) with the fact that they’re matched up against a team I despise and also the team that easily shit-canned the underachieving Rangers in the first round, the Pittsburgh Penguins.

It’s strange; I love the city of Pittsburgh, but I can’t stand the Penguins or their entitled fans and whiny big name stars. This is a team that got everything it ever won by tanking, by being embarrassingly uncompetitive in a strategic fashion in order to draft a generational talent (or two). I just can’t respect a team that builds its talent base in that fashion.

I’m confident that the Sharks will impose their physical dominance on the Penguins, shut down their top offensive players, and make this a short Final… perhaps even skating the Stanley Cup around on Pittsburgh ice.